Jurgen Klopp: Why should we compare Ronaldo and Salah?

It is a blockbuster Sunday for football fans, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah will come head-to-head in the Premier League. The headline fixture on Sunday will be about Liverpool traveling to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in a mouth-watering clash. The Anfield side have been impressive in both league and the Champions League. They will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten start to the 2021-22 campaign in Manchester. On the other hand, United have endured a mixed fortune. Having not won a league match in three outings, the Red Devils will be desperate to get all three points on Sunday. The pre-match talks have largely circulated around Ronaldo and Salah. Both forwards have been on an impressive form of late, helping their sides get crucial results with individual brilliance.  

On comparing Salah and Ronaldo, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, in his press conference, said, “I never thought about that – why should we compare Cristiano Ronaldo and Mo Salah? Obviously both are world-class players, so that’s how it is. I would say even when Ronaldo’s left foot is not that bad, but I would say Mo’s left foot is probably better. Maybe then Cristiano in the air is slightly better and the right foot is probably better. But speed-wise they are both pretty quick, very desperate to score goals – so maybe that’s it. But I really never thought properly about that and I’m not too interested in it, sorry.”

Klopp on half-time talks

Asked whether he places great importance on what he says at half-time, Klopp replied, “Yeah. I have not the biggest influence on my team obviously during the game because it’s very loud. At the Wanda Metropolitano it was very loud. Pep Lijnders was constantly talking to me and I understood pretty much like 10 per cent and we were next to each other.”

“So, you are not that influential during a game, it’s more visual, ‘Oh the boss doesn’t look happy’ or whatever. So, yes, I think it’s very important that we say the right stuff in the right moment before the game, in half-time and, if you can reach out to them, then during the game as well. But that’s my job obviously, to analyse the things in the right way and to tell the boys how we can keep going or what we have to improve or how we can use the information we got in the first half. That’s the job.”

‘We try to focus mainly on ourselves’

Klopp was then asked about Manchester United’s ability to come from behind. He added: “I didn’t think yet about what I will tell the boys actually, but we all know how the world of football is. They won now that game [against Atalanta in midweek] but United-Liverpool is a massive game obviously, we know that. I think Man United is not overly happy with the results they got so far but we all know they are able to do incredible stuff, that’s how it is, and we saw it already.”

“So, we try to focus mainly on ourselves but, of course, if you ask me about the half-time talk now, the game is over after the final whistle, not after the whistle after 45, 46 minutes. We know that but I might mention that. But it depends on the result obviously.”